‘One Life and It’s Up to Us’: Lebanon High Graduates Urged on Importance of ‘Grit’

In the cafeteria Cameron Stewart hands Lebanon High School class vice president Alec Greeley an umbrella before the start of the school's graduation on June 12, 2014 in Lebanon, N.H. On the left is class president Ben Whitaker. Valley News - Jennifer Hauck Purchase photo reprints »

Jaidin Wilson hugs her sister Ravin Thibodeau as the rain falls on the start of Lebanon High School graduation ceremony on June 12, 2014, in Lebanon N.H.Valley News - Jennifer Hauck Purchase photo reprints »

Lebanon — The city’s high school seniors were urged to aspire to bright futures during a graduation held under gray skies on the school’s football field on Thursday evening.

Salutatorian Emma Poplack and Valedictorian Nell Houde used their shared speech to encourage their classmates to aim higher than the class’ song would suggest, “The Best Day of My Life.”

Poplack said graduates should think of this milestone as a “stepping stone,” a “checkpoint” and a “celebration,” and look ahead to many more.

Houde urged her fellow grads to consider “YOLO”— you only live once — as a “war cry for our generation.”

“We have one life and it’s up to us,” she said. “Go after what you want.”

Social studies teacher Lukas Michener — a Seattle native — began his commencement address by taking credit for the weather.

“You’re welcome,” he said.

As he does in his discussion-based classes, Michener used the students’ own words to reflect on the concept of hard work. He said he asked the students to respond to a prompt a couple of weeks earlier, describing what hard work means to them and providing an example of an instance when they worked hard to achieve a goal.

Michener shared graduating senior Ellen Gibbs’ story of a struggle to retrieve a 10-pound block from the water as part of a lifeguard exam. In order to gain her parents’ approval and a summer job, Gibbs needed to “save a brick from drowning,” Michener said.

Though she dropped it once, on the second try she was able to bring the brick to safety, he said.

Michener pointed to University of Pennsylvania psychology associate professor Angela Duckworth’s work on the characteristic of grit, which he described as a combination of passion, perseverance and stamina.

He reminded the graduates that life is “a marathon, not a sprint.”

He wrapped up his words of wisdom with a quotation from his dad, Mike, “nothing that’s worth a damn in life comes easy.”

Demonstrating their grit, the graduates withstood rain — gradually increasing in intensity — in order to collect their diplomas from School Board Chairman Jeff Peavey and outgoing superintendent Gail Paludi, as outgoing principal NanParsons read their names.

Friends and family members huddled under umbrellas as they cheered and took pictures.

Parsons, who will leave her post at the end of the month, concluded the ceremony with a brief statement describing the event as the “most memorable graduation in history.”

As the crowd dispersed and those in attendance fled to their cars, graduate Trevor Field said he was “glad to graduate” and “happy to be out of school.”

Field said his next step might take him to Yankee Barn Homes in Grantham where he would help to construct post and beam houses.

Dodging rain drops as she waited for her parents, graduate Georgia Michalovic said the ceremony was “very memorable.”

As the Upper Valley’s high school graduation season rolls to a close — Randolph Union High School will host its ceremony this evening — here’s a look back at some of the best lines from graduates’ speeches. Find our full list of graduation stories at the bottom of this page, browse graduation photo galleries on our Photos page, and view …

Compiled by Web Editor Maggie Cassidy and contributors from across the newsroom, the Dispatch blog delivers breaking news, multimedia projects, announcements, short reports highlighting life in the Upper Valley and links to other items of interest. Email suggestions to mcassidy@vnews.com and follow the blog at www.vnews.com/dispatch.